


The Growth of Nature

by SleepDeprived_ReadingAddicted



Category: Alien vs Predator (2004), Predators (2010)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alien Cultural Differences, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies Relationship(s), Other, Slow Burn, Torture, Xeno, Xenophilia, Yautja
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2020-07-30 19:44:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20102608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepDeprived_ReadingAddicted/pseuds/SleepDeprived_ReadingAddicted
Summary: "I could have been relaxing on my stupid couch right now, wrapped up in that soft throw blanket i still haven't used, all while watching Battlestar Galactica in the comfort of my home. But no! NO! I have to be freaking LIVING in the damn show!" Lily whined to herself as she looked around the large room she had just crawled into.Though she was glad to be able to stand, she was not happy about all the bones lying around. Obviously things couldn't get any worse she thought but as soon as the thought came, the roof shattered above her. Lily screamed and dove out of the way, turning quickly, she pressed her back against the wall. She watched one of the black demons tumble down a pile of bones as it struggled to get out of a net. Followed by one of those enormous humanoid monsters dropping down into the room from the hole above, a blade as long as her arm in his hand.Well fuck me, Lily thought





	1. The Offer

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Everyone!!! Just wanted to make the typical disclaimer that i do not own anything from the Alien or Predator franchise and that this is purely a fanfic for non-profit purposes. But none the less i hope you enjoy.
> 
> This story is posted without the help of a beta reader.

#### Lho La Ice Falls in Nepal

Even with her well insulated gloves Lex was starting to feel the biting cold in her fingertips. But she was a mere 15 feet from the top, and this climb was many years in the making. Her father had promised to take her here after their expedition up Mt. Rainier, but when that had become impossible she always promised herself she’d make the climb for the both of them.

Lex sunk her left axe deep into the ice before sliding her hand out of her glove. She gave a few experimental tugs and touches on her gear to ensure she was safe for the moment. With the one hand free she was able to turn slightly and take in more of the view over her shoulder.

Her father had been right on the money when he had described this place,

_“I know there are plenty of other places out there but this one always held the number one spot in my book. Just the feeling of raw power right beneath your fingertips while you hang from a frozen waterfall. The vast white calm that surrounds you - breathtaking - you’ll see! It’ll be our next climb together.” Her dad smiled pulling the champagne bottle back to his lips. He takes a few guzzles before offering it back to Lex “To Lho La Ice Falls. The Wickedly Awesome Woods’ next adventure”_

__

__

_Lex laughs as she takes the bottle “To Lho La Ice Falls”, she agrees._

“To Lho La Ice Falls dad” Lex whispered as she glanced back up toward the top. Slipping her hand back into the strap of her ice axe she steadied herself with a deep breath. 

Absorb this moment for all its worth, channel dads lessons, and finish this Lex thought to herself.

Her body had started to burn in protest and she couldn’t help but grunt with every exertion she gave. This was always her favorite part of a climb though. When true battle of will took place. The cold finally starting to seep through clothing, muscles starting to quiver, and the ice starting to become more brittle with the beginning signs of the peak.

She yanked her left axe back out of the wall and went to swing it back in a little higher when a shrill ring suddenly echoed throughout the mountains. Lex’s muscles tensed too quickly. The jerk of her leg too hard upon the ice. Shock and fear flooded her as the ice broke under her right foot. Built in reflex was the only thing that saved her. Her left axe planted securely into the ice before her right axe was forced to take all of her weight. 

Lex clenched her teeth to cut herself off mid scream, screaming would only worsen her situation. Her stomach still felt like it had made a home with her lungs and heart from sliding a few inches. A few inches but they feel like miles. Lex quickly tightened her grip on the axes as she readjusted her feet. She took a moment to reign in her breathing, pressing her body tight against the ice wall. Her hands were clenching so tightly to the axes Lex didn't know if she’d ever be able to let go. 

It would be far from the first time she slipped on the ice nor been hurt, but this climb had already been so emotionally draining for her that she couldn't help but take longer than normal to compose herself.  
Once she was sure she wasn't going to die Lex slipped her hand out of her glove to answer the call. “Hello?”

“Ms. Woods, pleasure to make your acquaintance” A deep haughty voice answered and Lex already knew this wouldn't be a pleasant conversation.

“Who is this?” she puffed out in annoyance as she resumed her climb.

“My name is Maxwell Stafford I represent Weyland Industries”

Lex let out a chuckle at the name of that company “Let me guess, he’s suing us again”

“You misunderstand. Mr Weland has offered to fund the foundation, with which you are associated, for a full year - if you meet with him”

Lex could not help the curiosity that filled her. To have the man that had sued them, more than five times, pay for a years worth of environmental work was a very lucrative offer “When?”

“Tomorrow” Mr. Stafford replied in a way that hinted at no room for negotiation

Lex let out a sigh. That would have been good money, even better to see the look on Mr. Weyland's face as he handed over the money, but the offer sounded too good to be true anyway. Especially from some one like Weyland “Tomorrow is going to be a problem” she grunted “it's going to take me a week to get back to the world”

“Yes I told him that” Maxwell answered before hanging up on her. Rude.

But Lex had reached the peak, these next few moments were critical as her position changed. She did not have another second to waste on Mr. Englishmen - if his voice was anything to go by. She’s a little more drained than she'd like having had to put some of her focus on the conversation rather than her climb but she was at the top.

“He said he didn't have a week” A voice shouted.

Lex looked up, startled, to hear the voice from the phone sounding so close. A tall dark man in a long black coat and beanie was standing in front of a helicopter with such a nonchalance stance that Lex already knew she hated him.

You’ve got to be kidding me she thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### University of California Berkeley - Professor Marks Lecture

The clicking of the auditorium doors behind Lily had her glancing at what student would bother to come to the professor's lecture with only five minutes remaining. But a quick once over told Lily that he wasn’t a student. He held himself professionally. Too militant.

Maybe police? Perhaps a student was being arrested for drugs, or maybe the professor was being fired. Oh no! Maybe she was being fired? Lily thought.

“...thus, human vocal abilities may have appeared much earlier in time than the first archaeological evidence for symbolic behavior...we’ll pick up again on the Origin of Speech Thursday. Class dismissed” The professor finished, with a boom to his voice, causing Lily to turn back toward the front of the classroom.

The shifting of backpacks, chairs, and trays as students started to leave woke Marcus Albernay who sat in the front row. Lily could see him trying to discreetly wipe the drool from his face with the back of his blue hoodie. Lily never understood how people could have the audacity to fall asleep in class where the professor could see them. She’d be embarrassed out of her mind. She could already feel the flutter in her stomach just for Marcus himself. Then again she had to admit the professors theories and research were amazing but he wasn't the best at public speaking. Monotone speakers never were.

Go figure for a professor in linguistics.

Lily slid her glasses off the top of her head and back onto her nose while she turned around to gather up all her papers. She glanced back at the man by the doors. He hadn’t moved, which was strange to Lily. If he was a police officer, here for a student, then it would have been easier to secure the student before class was released. Then again if he was an officer wouldn't he have had the dean of the school with him? And he wasn’t in uniform. That seemed pretty unprofessional, Lily thought as she draped her messenger bag over her shoulder.

Lily glanced toward the back doors one more time as she made her way down the stairs only to see that the man was gone. Maybe he just had the wrong classroom. But one look at the front of the classroom proved her wrong. Professor Marks was now standing next to the sketchy man deep in some sort of disagreement.

_How’d he move so quickly?_

“...can help” Lily heard the professor say as she approached, the professor turned at that moment to gesture towards her.

“Mr. Weyland asked specifically for you Dr. Marks” the unknown man sighed but Professor Marks ignored him completely.

“Lily, this is Mr. Maxwell Stafford, he works for Weyland Industries. Mr. Weyland has offered to fund our research for another year" Excitement clear in his voice "If we were to meet with him to discuss some possible work he would like us to do for him. But I explained to Mr. Stafford that I couldn't leave my research at this time. However...you could take my place!”

“No,” Mr. Stafford affirmed.

“Mr. Stafford. Weyland sent you here because he wants the best of the best in all aspects of whatever endeavor he is taking on.” Professor Marks began “And that is exactly what you are getting. Lily has been working with me long before she received the official title as my assistant. She has been a part of my research team since the second year I started my study over eleven years ago.” Dr. Marks crossed his arms over his protruding belly. A sign Lily had learned meant he would not budge on his stand of the topic. 

Dr. Marks was a walking contradiction that had Lily letting out a light chuckle. Big burly man with a long coarse beard but a sweetheart to the core. A professor of linguistics but a monotone voice.

“Mr. Weyland may have need for a small show of skill during this meeting. A show of skill your assistant here could not do for you” Mr. Staffords statement caused Lily to bristle in annoyance. 

Obviously Mr. Stafford held little to no interest in Lily and though she was annoyed a bigger portion of her understood. He didn't know her. He didn't know the skills she could bring. Lily knew she did not look her age - she tended to come off a bit younger looking - and her short stature did not help her case. But this was an opportunity of a lifetime, a full years worth of funding for research! Not to mention the research as a whole was just starting to take a turn toward one of her linguistic interests.

Lily hated confrontation - hated causing trouble. She knew people tended to walk all over her more than the average person but even she had her limits. And unlike most people Lily could back up whatever she said if it came down to it. Her whole life she had been forced to be tough. She was the only girl born in a family filled with hunting crazed and wrestling obsessed men. Her three older brothers never cared about being gentle and her father always told her to suck it up. Now was one of those times.

Lily stood tall and faced Mr. Stafford head on “And what show of skill are you here to show us in regards to Weyland Industries Mr. Stafford? Are you one of the vital scientists employed by Mr. Weyland?” She questioned “I think not...For your information, as Professor Marks explained I have been working with him for the past ten years. I am well up to date on all the recent studies in linguistics if you are wanting an opinion on such matters. I am fluent in eight different languages and can confidently speak another two on top of that, if you are in so desperate a need for a translator. Also my main study is in Articulatory Phonetics so if Mr. Weyland has somehow stumbled upon some unknown civilization. I'd be the best at figuring out what they’re saying and replicating those sounds” Lily snapped at him.

Lily did her best to hide the tremble in her hands. Conflicting emotions and thoughts swarmed her mind as years of built in instinct told her that she was about to face physical retribution for her words, and Lily had no doubt with the way Mr. Stafford stared at her with a slow forming grin that he could easily inflict said punishment.

Oh god he was going to murder her! Lily thought. Mr. Stafford was going to murder her for speaking at him like that. That's what she got for being so rude. She could have just tried to persuade him but no she had to go flaunt her skills at him. Question his skills!? She’ll never -

“Pack your bags Ms…” Mr. Stafford spoke

Wait what? “What?”

“Ms. Andreu. Her name is Ms. Lily Andreu” Professor Marks interrupted with a chuckle.

Mr. Stafford still had that grin on his face as he walked back up the auditorium steps. "I’ll meet you back outside this building in two hours Ms. Andreu. I assume that is enough time to gather your things?” He explained. “Oh and do pack for the extreme cold Ms. Andreu” and then he was gone.

“...What just happened?” Lily asked out loud causing Professor Marks to laugh 

"Oh Ms. Andreu, such a brilliant mind you have but you get lost in it too much. Stay safe, pack well and have fun" With that he turned away to gather his own things leaving Lily standing alone in the auditorium loosely clutching the strap of her messenger bag.

“What just happened?” Lily mumbled and she couldn't help but to think she should have called in sick.


	2. Here They Come

#### Helicopter over Ross Ice Shelf - Antarctica

Lily unhooked the wireless earbud from her left ear and tried rubbing the back of her ear with her thumb. Lily envied people who could wear headphones that didn't hook around the ear and not have to worry about them falling out. Lily was always stuck with the ones that had the hook but an injury to her left ear when she was younger always caused the little piece of plastic to irritate the back of her ear. Always forcing her to take it off for some much needed rest.

Lily let out a quiet sigh as she tucked the earbud into her pocket and stared out the window of the helicopter. Just an endless sea of ice...yay! she thought bitterly, hatred for the cold only growing with a passion. Reaching behind her head for the hood of her fleece jacket she wrestles it free from all the other layers she is wearing. Pulling the hood as far over her head as it will go before trying to sink further into the rest of her clothes. Scrunching up her shoulders and tucking her glove covered hands under her armpits she briefly wishes for fire powers.

_At least then i could set myself on fire and be warm_

Sadly Lily resigns herself to tucking her body into a ball though it does nothing to prevent the little chill she feels throughout her body. When Lily was little she used to always take pleasure in how much colder her body would become compared to those of her friends. 65 degree weather and Lily’s fingers would become popsicles that she would brandish against her friends’ necks. Laughing at the high pitched squeals that would erupt from their mouths. Now, however, she just wonders if it is some type of health condition she never bothered to get checked because Lily is pretty sure your fingers are not supposed to lose color and stiffen in those types of temperatures.

Needless to say, Lily hates the cold. Of course when Mr. Stafford had said to pack for the extreme cold she was not happy. She thought maybe she was going to Alaska at worst - not the freaking Antarctic! Lily is just glad she had winter gear to begin with and did not have to scramble to buy ill fitting and half decent stuff last minute.

Back when she was a freshman in college, she had signed up for an expedition to the northern slopes of Alaska with doctor Marks to study the language of the Inupiat. Her first time in the field studying language and culture. Some of her most treasured memories were made there. 

One of her most recurring nightmares was also made around the same time - just before leaving for the Alaskan voyage.

She’ll never forget the feeling of her soul leaving her body when the cost of those clothes rang up on the register. So expensive proper winter gear was. Which is why Lily was trying to make herself comfy even though all her clothes were a little on the tight side. She had been eighteen when she bought this stuff, making it just under a decade old.

The flashing of a camera interrupts any more of Lily’s musings. The woman in front of her starts to shift toward wakefulness as the flashing continues. Blinking the sleep away she stretches her back before sitting up straight. Her magazine falling to the floor.

“Oh sorry I should have - um - switched the flash off, here's your magazine” The man to Lily’s right apologizes to the other lady.

Lily noticed the way she assessed him head to toe as she took back the magazine. He wasn't horrendous looking by any means but his slight elongated features were not great to look at for long either. Cargo pants and hiking boots and a sweater over top a button up shirt - topped off with an open canvas jacket. Nothing really meant to withstand the harsh terrain they are flying over right now. Obviously a scientist. 

“That's ok” The lady replies with a gentle smile.

She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Lily, an eyebrow raising at her outfit. Lily knew what she must look like. She was wearing enough layers to survive outside the helicopter and everything was neon bright colors. When she was younger bright colors were worn to keep her alive. If you went into the woods to play, you wore bright colors so your ass didn't get shot by a hunter. As she grew older colorful clothes were what she was drawn to because three fourths of her wardrobe were hand me downs from her camouflage addicted brothers.

“...Just want to show them their dad wasn't always so boring” The man trails off holding out his camera toward the woman.

She takes it from him with a bit of reluctance holding it up to get him in the lens sights “Smile” She commands, clicking the button and then quickly handing the camera back “there you go” she says making sure her face displays that she won't take another even though he made the mistake of looking out the window as the camera flashed.

“I’m Graeme Miller, chemical engineer” He introduces.

“Alexa Woods environmental technician and guide”

“Do you work for Weyland?” He asks with a tilt of his head toward the magazine that has Mr. Weyland’s face on it.

“Oh. Oh no I split my time between working for a small environmental group and taking scientists on expeditions on the ice” She replies “What about you?”

“Yeah, yeah just recently I, um, signed a contract to work out of his Switzerland base. This is actually the start of my contract” He chuckles, “Get started with a bang yeah?”

“And you?” Alexa asks Lily, who's still in the same position from earlier. Criss crossed in the chair, hood over her head and hands tucked under her arms.

“Lex you and your friends buckle up we’re about to hit some turbulence” The pilot shouts out. 

“Thanks Jack” Lex automatically replies

All three of them move to buckle up. Lily’s hood slides off her head as she makes herself comfortable again. When she looks up, her green eyes lock with Lex’s brown ones; the alarm in the latters face is clear as day. 

“Is he a friend of yours?” Graeme asks Lex, startling her out of her intense focus upon Lily. 

“...Of my dads, my father trained most of the pilots down here”

“Thats cool” Lily speaks with a smile on her face and a gloved hand held out in a greeting “I’m Lily Andreu, linguistic specialist”

“Linguistics?” Lex asks, taking Lily’s hand in a firm handshake.

“My guess is, a lot of foreigners are going to be working this job -whatever it is - and i'm simply a glorified translator” Lily laughs.

“Just passed the PSR” The Pilot shouts

“Oh damn, wish I got a picture” Miller, if Lily remembers his name correctly, gasps glancing out the window.

“Of what?” Lex questions confusion clear on her face as she settles back into her seat.

“Oh, um, the PSR - I wish he'd called it out before we passed it” Graeme explains and it leaves both Lily and Lex chuckling.

“The PSR is the point of safe return. It means we’ve used half our fuel so we can’t turn back” Lex explains with a small smile of exasperation

That clearly doesn't settle well with Miller. Lily can see the slight panic in his eyes. “Right but if something were to go wrong we could land right?”

“We could ditch” Lex replies

“Right ditch”

There is a glint in Lex’s eye and the tiniest of smirks shows before she replies “But the temperature of the water would kill us in three minutes”

Lily cant help but laugh at that. Miller obviously does not find any of this humorous and instead snaps his head at Lily as if she’s lost her mind. She takes the other earbud out of her right ear, “It's funny” she starts “because the likelihood of us actually landing in the water is pretty slim. I see us hitting the ice when we jump and breaking a lot of bones while we slowly freeze...to death” Lily explains the last part in a whisper when she takes in the changes in Miller's face

And now she feels terrible for putting that fearful look in his eyes.

Lily didn’t mean to upset him. She forgets that some people actually fear the thought of death. Sure when it’s actually happening Lily has no doubt she’ll be freaking out with the rest of them, praying to any and all gods out there to help her. But she’s never been one to worry about when or where she’ll die. Or even question everything in life due to the possibility of causing death. When it happens it’ll happen. She can only hope it's painless. She does worry for everyone else though and having put that increasing fear in Miller doesn't sit well in her stomach.

“Sorry” Lily apologizes but it sounds lame even to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Ice breaker - Piper Maru

It had been a while since Lex had been on a ship so large. She even had her own room. She took a few moments to make sure her things were situated before she grabbed the tablet, the same one everyone was given upon arrival, off the small side table and headed for the gathering.

When she stepped out of her cabin, into the passageway, she caught sight of the other female from the chopper, Lily. This time without the extra layers Lex saw her in earlier but still just as colorful. Lex couldn’t help but smile at the shirt Lily was wearing over her green thermal. “I like your shirt”

Lily glanced up from the tablet in her hands and looked up to see Lex standing only a few feet away. She looked down at her shirt and back up to Lex, her cheeks immediately started to heat up. Lily began to babble to Lex, “Oh i uh thought it would be funny. You know because penguins live in the cold and Mr. Stafford said we were going somewhere cold so I thought it would be cute - and then I'm a linguist so the penguins saying hi in different languages...” She lifted her hand to point at the penguins on her shirt “...um this one here is german and this one is french and - but yeah i thought it would be a funny irony. You know! With a linguist in the cold wearing a penguin shirt where the penguins speak different languages and I - I'm just gonna shut up now...”

Lex let out a laugh at the poor girl. Her face was so red. “It’s cute. Colorful. It suits you. Come on let’s go meet up with everyone else,” She looked glanced over to Lily as they started walking together. “I also happen to really like penguins”

It didn’t take long before they reached the same area as everyone else. Lex stopped to observe everyone but Lily only slowed in stride, turning toward Lex she pointed at a few chairs. “I’ll grab us some seats” 

Lex watched her go. Watched her nearly jump out of skin when the engine of the machine she was passing roared to life. Lex can’t help but smirk at Lily’s annoyed face when she turns to see Miller behind the wheel. Lex makes her way over to Miller before he can get on anyone else's nerve. 

But she barely manages to take three steps before a man - an employee of weyland if his outfit is any indication - is talking to Miller.

“Get off or i'm going to wear your ass for a hat!” The man screams with a slight rhotic to his words.

Miller jumps and scrambles to get down “Right - ok - yeah, no problem”

“Nice team spirit” Lex snides at the man who turns to watch Miller go.

Tension was going to happen. It always did. Too many males in close quarters all with the same goal but different ways of getting there. It was natural for Lex to try and cut it quickly. Usually by redirecting the males attention to her. Though she was technically in charge on expeditions the men still seemed to have this preconceived notion that because she was female she was weaker. The fact that she was a black female didn't help. Instead this all white male dominated domain meant she wasn't given much of a second glance by the men she led. She used that to her advantage. If they didn't see her as a threat then redirecting their feelings toward her when tensions arose only created hesitation and almost always a slight defeat. They tended to stare at her for a sec, maybe spout out a few gruff words but after that whatever argument there had been would die down and cooperation usually fell back into place. Cooperation that was essential to surviving on the ice.

“Keep the beakers away from the gear” The man snarls and Lex makes sure to glance at his nametag on his shirt as she walks over to Miller. VERHEIDEN. She’ll remember that.

“What does he mean, beaker?” Miller whispers.

Lex laughs “That's what they call the scientists out here, you know, beaker like in the muppet show”

“Everybody! Please! your attention” Maxwell Stafford calls out before lifting his head and gesturing for everyone to look at something higher up behind them. “Mr Weyland”

That name quickly kills any miniscule whispers going around. Lex turns her head slightly at the sound of heavy footsteps along the metal bridge above them.

“Seven days ago one of my satellites searching for mineral deposits beneath the earth discovered this bloom in heat over Antarctica...outlining this” Mr Weylands starts. The lights dim and a giant projection is broadcasted off the bulkhead of the ship in front of them. What looks to be an aerial view of a pyramid is on screen, ”The solid red lines indicate walls. Through thermal reading we were able to make a rough 3D dimensional image of the structure - it's massive - containing hundreds of ruins all built around a central core, my experts tell me it's a pyramid. What they can't figure out is who built it and when. One expert tells me this pyramid has features reminiscent of the Aztecs, another tells me it's probably cambodian. What they all agree on is that the smooth sides are definitely egyptian." 

Lex is in awe of the picture. A new discovery on ice sounds amazing to her. Her chest feels tighter when the thought of her dad, being here for this, passes through her mind.

“I think your experts are right” a man sitting behind Lex shouts out.

Lex watches the man as he scrambles out of his seat to get closer to Mr. Weyland as if it is imperative he be heard. He has short dark curls and skin that has been well kissed by the sun. Very handsome 

Lex thinks but can’t help but be slightly annoyed as well because this is another man that Lex is pretty sure has no experience on the ice. Training is going to be tough.

“Which one?” Weyland demands.

“All of them.” The man answers.

“Meaning what exactly?” Lex pipes in.

The handsome man turns toward her before turning to the projected image. He speeds past all the chairs to get a closer look at it before whipping around to face them. “This pyramid contains the features of all three cultures. This pyramid might be the first one ever built!”

“But built by whom?” Graeme asks from his seat to the right of Lex.

“By the first civilization” The man answers with an ear splitting grin.

“Thank you” Weyland sighs with relief.

“But how could anyone possible build a pyramid out here” Graeme asks

The small blond man that Lex has spotted conversing with the handsome man earlier speaks up this time while looking at the tablet in his hand, “Ancient maps show Antarctica free of ice. It's possible that the land was once habitable”

“Well i can’t tell you who built it but if I could take a sample from it, then I can tell you how old it is” Graeme calls up to Weyland.

‘What exactly caused the heat bloom? ' the blonde asks but his question goes unanswered because Lex has an even more important one.

“Where exactly on the ice is it?”

“Bouvetoya” Mr Weyland replies.

Lex can feel her body become rigid, pain and stress taking over her features. And it seems to not go unnoticed by Mr Weyland as he attempts to appease her, “But its not on the ice its 2000ft below it" 

Lex clenches her jaw tight to refrain from saying something she shouldn't in front of all these people. Her cheeks ache from the pressure but she pays it no mind. Lex is too busy imaging all these people in body bags. 

“Mr Quinn” Stafford calls out.

A man steps forward form the group of men that have been loitering behind all the seats near the giant vehicles. His voice gruff, “You're looking at the best drilling team in the world. We’ll chew to the depth in seven days”

“Add three weeks on top of that to train everyone here” Lex adds on even louder as she stares straight at Mr. Weland.

“We don't have that kind of time Ms. Woods” Mr Weyland argues “I'm not the only one with a satellite over antarctica, others will be here soon”

Lex lets out a chuckle but it is without any humor in the tone. Instead her eyes are blazing and her words are spoken with an irry calm “Maybe I wasn't clear. No one in this room is ready for this trip”

“That's why I asked you here” Weyland smiles.

Oh that pompous little...Lex didn’t even care about the money anymore - no matter how much good it would do the foundation. This man wanted his way. And just like all the rumours have said about this anal filthy rich man, whose pale ass has been on its stupid pedestal for too long, he thought his word was law. She attempts one last time to reason with him, if only for the people he is surely to get killed. “Bouvetoya is one of the most isolated places in the world; the nearest land is a thousand miles away. There is no help if we run into trouble”

“Your right, it's a no man's land” Weyland agrees “But the train has left the station and I think I speak for everyone on board this ship when i say this is worth the risk”

Worth the risk. Worth the risk! That was always the excuse Weyland Inc. gave for any environmental damage they did. The future prospects they could provide to the world was always worth the risk of the habitat they were destroying. It was worth the risk of even the people's health of those who lived near some of his internationally factories. “Find another guide” Lex growls.

That arrogant - god damn - ugh. Lex can’t even get her thoughts to settle; she is so angry at Mr. Weyland. He doesn’t need her. She’s just there as a precaution for lawsuit. If he had a guide and then people died on this expedition he could blame it on a combination of the terrain and that person not listening to the guide. He doesn't actually care about the safety of his people. Well now he’s going to be forced to wait for the other guide to show up. So i hope some other team arrives just as a big fuck you to him in the meantime!

Lex catches sight of Lily leaning on the frame of the hatch, watching her, as she crams things into her bag with no finesse or control she prefered to exhibit. 

“That bad huh?” Lily starts, “I've been on the ice before. Northern Slopes of Alaska. Extremely cold. It pales in comparison to here though and by the way you are acting it only confirms that. So...is it that bad?”

Lex stared at Lily intensely. “Worse”

“Wonderful” Lily sighed and she opened her mouth to say something only for an undignified squeak to come out instead when she was startled by Mr Stafford appearing right next her.

“I've spoken to Mr. Weyland, moneys been wired into your foundations account, choppers refueling to fly you home” Mr. Stafford informs Lex as he grins down at Lily’s glare. 

Stafford turned away and Lex knew she shouldn’t inquire. She should just let it be. Let it die because she wasn’t going to get involved in this shit show, but the young innocent pout on Lily’s face in front of her and the image of Miller’s kids on his camera flashed in her mind, and so she found herself calling out. “Who’d you get?” 

Stafford pauses in his leave to think before answering, the name of the person spoken with little relevance to him, as if they were not the one most likely to keep him alive. “Jerry Murdock”

Lex is pretty sure her jaw just detached from her face. They seriously want to die don't they. Lex watched Stafford walk away, before glancing over at Lily who was watching him as well. Her stomach churned in dread. “I’ll be right back”

It surprises Lex how quickly she was able to locate Weyland's office. The hatch bangs into the bulkhead with a loud metallic clang as she barges straight in. 

“Come in” Weyland greets sarcastically.

Lex gets straight to the point. “Jerry Murdock has two seasons of ice time. He is not ready”

“Dont worry about it,” Mr. Weyland replies offhandedly. Looking back at his paperwork with little care to the Lex seething in front of him.

“What about Paul Woodman or Andrew Kealner?”

“We called them” Mr. Weyland answers.

“And!?”

“They gave us the same bullshit answer you did” Mr. Stafford responds with his uppity British accent as he comes into the office with some papers and a tablet in hand.

“Bullshit!?” Lex exclaims. She stares at the two men who don't even have the decency to look back at her. Like she is some sort of pest. That is what they see her as, Lex knows. They see her as some high and mighty know it all. Her “overbearing” environmental views trying to get in their way again. But this wasn’t about the concerns of what they might do to the environment. This matter was much more pressing. This was about what the environment most definitely would do to them. Fear is seeping into her words and Lex hates it. Hates losing her cool, “Mr. Weyland what i told you in there wasn't bullshit! If you rush this people will get hurt...maybe die.”

“I don't understand your objections Ms. Woods? We’re not asking you to take us up Mt. Everest” Weyland drawls, annoyance now evident in his features. “We need you to take us from the ship to the pyramid and back to the ship. That's it”

“And what about inside the pyramid?”

“You dont have to worry about that once we’re on site we have the best equipment, technology and experts money can buy” With that he turns his head away a clear sign of dismissal toward Lex “Is this new?” he asks Stafford.

Lex was so close to reaching across the damn desk and slamming Mr. Weylands head against it, her hands shake. Such cocky idiocracy. “Mr. Weyland when I lead my team I never leave my team” Lex declares.

Weyland sits back in his chair, seeming to actually be impressed with Lex. “I admire your passion...I wish you were going with us”

Those last words raise the hairs on the back of her neck. She can see the look in his eye, he was trying to covertly persuade her to change her mind. But it wasn't going to work. 

“You’re making a huge mistake”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Up In Space

Orbiting Earth was the yautja mothership, an enormous vessel, to the Kujhade Clan. The top resembled the outline of a hunters mask. But tapered in toward the nose of the ship and then continued down the front as one sleek solid piece. Sticking out of either side of the tail of the craft were two tail-planes that started thin but then widened into two large rounded triangles angled toward the nose of the plane almost as if they doubled as cannons.

Inside the craft at the very bottom of the nose was a small room with nothing but a huge pipe attached to the ceiling. A large round hatch opened to the outside of the ship. The walls rattled as the pressure restabilized. The pipe in the ceiling started to glow a vibrant red. A high pitched keening sound filled the small room growing in volume in pace with the brightness of the pipe before it accumulated into a large boom. A bright blue beam shoots out of the pipe straight down at Earth.

In another part of the ship, was the infirmary. An odd balance between barbaric and heavily advanced tools filled it. In the middle of the room were two giant metal slab tables bolted down to the floor. A male yautja, wearing more coverings than usually seen adorning other males, stood in front of a small table near the side of the room. His eyes looking through the viewing glass built into the wall between the room he stands in and an adjoining room. Inside the other room, three giant oval shaped pods were leaned back at a 45 degree angle facing the window. A glass panel in the top half of the pods revealed a rustic yellow fluid illuminated by built in lights.

The yautja continued to stare a while longer before looking down at the control panel before him. Hands reaching out to press buttons forcing a chain reaction of events with the pods. A panel slid away from behind the pods. A whirring noise filled the room as large horizontal metallic columns slowly moved forward to attach to the back end of the pods. As soon as the columns connected, a cranking sound began. The metal of the column revealed to be made of small parts that shifted around each other, before settling back into place. The columns then receded back into the wall.

Left behind were four newly attached metal legs. A robotic claw arm descended from the ceiling to latch onto the pods and readjust them into a lying position, the newly attached legs connected with tracks that lift out of the floor. The robotic arm then begins to move, pulling the far left pod all the way across the room, the middle pod to the middle of the room and the right pod staying in place. Perfectly spaced out.

The yautja pressed a few more buttons and threw two more switches before passing through a connecting door and into the room with the pods.

The claws of the robotic arms were still at work, spinning to release screws from the pods before detaching and disappearing back into the ceiling. A hissing filled the room as the release of the screws activated the pods to open. A crack appeared along the pod, splitting it in half. The top half of the pod, composed of the glass panel, slid up and out of the way. The fluid inside revealed itself to be made of a thick gelatinous slime as some of it started to ooze out of the partial opening at drop to the floor in clumps.

The absence of the viscous material revealed other yautjas sleeping inside the pods. Their faces obscured by a rubbery mask encompassing their faces, which was attached to a tube that traveled down the side of their body and disappeared into the yellow gel still held in place by the bottom half of the door. 

The yautja from the other room slowly made his way toward the closest pod, reaching under, he pressed something that caused the tube and mask covering the sleeping yautja to light up and release a cloudy gas before moving on to the next pod. 

Suddenly the sound of the sleeping yautja’s heartbeats filled the room. The sound slowly increased in volume and quickened in tempo. Until it reached its peak and the three bodies jerked violently. Chests arched outward before banging back against the pods. Muffled noises came from behind the masks as giant clawed hands quickly tried to pry them off. Choking and gagging sounds filled the room, followed by the clatter of masks as they were flung away to dangle uselessly from the tubing over the sides of the pod.

“Stay Still” the first yautja barked out as the pod's inhabitants tried to reorient themselves. “The healing pods effects have not completely worn off. You were placed here to be at the epitome of performance during your hunt. Do not waste it by injuring yourself only a few hours before then.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Back on the Piper Maru

“Alright everyone listen up. Gather around“ Lex yelled out marching to the open area the chairs were once occupying. “It is my job to keep you alive on this expedition and I need your help to do that” Her voice was sincere as she glanced at all the faces circling her - all the possible deaths. Lex took a deep breath before using a commanding voice. One she has developed over the years in this male dominated job “Since I don't have time to properly train you. I’m laying down three simple rules. 1.) No one goes anywhere alone - ever 2.) Everyone must maintain constant communication 3.) Unexpected things are going to happen,when it does, no one tries to be a hero. Understood.”

Lex listened to the listless response. Her eyes narrowed in on Verheiden from early as he just stared back. “Is that understood?” She growled.

“Yes ma’am” he shouted for all to hear with a sneer in her direction.

With that finished everyone dispersed to finish with their own preparations.

Lex spotted Lily walking off to the side with the only other female in the crew. As she approached she could hear that they were conversing in another language. They both glanced at her when she stopped in front of them.

"We were talking about a bakery in France that has really good baguettes when I recognized the gun Adele was carrying. It was the same one my father carried when i was growing up." Lily explained

Lex glanced down at the gun Adele was prepping in her hands. “Seven seasons on the ice and I've never seen a gun save someone's life” she commented.

“I don't plan on using it” Adele replies. 

“Then why bring it?”

“Same principle as a condom. I’d rather have one and not need it then need one and not have it” she grins before tucking the gun back into the holster under arm “I'm glad that you decided to stay”


	3. Making History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation to Yautja words will be at the end of the chapter.

It didn't take long before everyone had disembarked the Piper Maru and was making their way across the ice.

“Oh god it’s fucking freezing. I hate the cold...Oh god why didn’t I put on more layers. Better question - why did i get off the freaking ship!?” Lily whined from the back seats of the snowcat that Lex was driving. The Italian, Sebastian De Rosa, laughed at Lily from the front passenger seat.

“You really hate the cold huh?” Sebastian smiled “I must admit I am not very partial to it myself.”

“I should have stayed on the ship but Mr. Weyland said it was all hands on deck and i would be needed for communications but I haven't come across a single person that did not speak English yet. Of course I didn't argue much because it’s a freaking pyramid! I wanna see it with my own eyes. But it just had to be in Antartica! Maybe I can still turn back...Ugh what am i saying with my luck I'd drive into the water” Lily rambled in frustration before covering her face with her neck gaiter.

Lex joined Sebastian in laughing at Lily's duress while Lily glared at her through the rear view mirror. Lily noticed Lex stare at the flower and skull design of her neck gaiter before giving the rest of her a once over. Lex’s eyes crinkled in amusement before she turned her eyes back on the road. Again Lily was aware of how different she looked compared to everyone else. All the scientists had been given yellow jackets to wear while everyone else wore gray. Lily and Lex were the only two not in either of those colors. Lex had on a sensible color, a red jacket, as the guide. But Lily’s jacket was black with a splatter paint design on it. Top that with the pink ‘Dia de los muertos’ gaiter and her pants with patches of dark purple...yeah Lily knew she was amusing looking to everyone but she didn't care. She liked her clothes - they were cute!

Lily adjusted her gaiter over her face as she glanced at Sebastian who was messing with something around his neck. Lex must have noticed too because she spoke up at that moment.

“What's with the bottle cap”

“What?”

“What’s with the bottle cap” she repeated

Sebastian glanced down at the bottle cap. Which he obviously didn't even realize he had been toying with. He looked over at Lex. For a moment he just stared at her and Lily couldn't help but smile at the love sick puppy eyes he was giving Lex. 

“Very rare archaeological find” he smiled and it was rewarded with a smile from Lex in return, a beautiful bronze glow highlighting her cheeks. Lily had to hold back her squeal of delight. She was a sucker for romance and these two had some energy going on between them.

Sebastian glanced away and out the window at the large moon. “When I was a kid growing up in Italy, you know what they call a moon that big?”

“Hmm?” Lex inquired

“La Luna del Cacciatore”

Lex attempted to say it back and even though Lily knew she butchered it Sebastian congratulated her attempt. “What’s that?” Lex asked

“Hunters Moon” He answered and there was a mischievous glint in his eyes as he stared at Lex.

“Hunters moon?”

“mm-hmm “ He drawled, not blinking, but Lily could see the grin that was starting to break across his face and if she could she, no doubt Lex could. Soon enough all three of them were laughing. 

It was another fifteen minutes before they stopped at the edge of a hill.

“Are we there?” Lily asked peeking out from her cocoon of warmth.

“Signal shows its right in front of us, but the ground drops off” Sebastian answered, sliding through the different satellite views streaming to the tablet.

“They are getting out of their vehicles. I need to go join them” Lex said before hopping out of the snowcat. Sebastian followed.

“That’s nice but i'll stay here. I’ll get out when we get back to the boat” Lily mumbled more to herself than them as she tucked her head back into the warmth of her jacket.

Lex trudged her way through the snow to stand next to Mr. Weyland. “It's an abandoned whaling station. Which according to your satellite readings puts the pyramid directly below it” Lex explained. She pulled a flare gun from the pocket of her jacket before shooting it off above the whaling station.

Everyone watched as the flare slowly descended, illuminating the dilapidated buildings in an ominous red glow, until it faded into nothing. After which everyone climbed back into their vehicles and started the treacherous drive down the hill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“We’ll use this area as a base camp. Mr. Quinn start drilling as soon as you can,” Stafford’s voice called out as everyone poured out of their vehicles.

“I’m on it” Mr Quinn answered in response “Okay guys lets move out." Lex, Sebastian and Lily stood close to their snowcat as Mr. Quinn’s team moved around the rigs.

“You think it’d be safe to explore? Maybe get some pictures?” Miller asked as he approached.

“Yeah. As long as we follow the rules I laid out” Lex agreed as she turned to Lily and Sebastian “What about you two?”

Sebastian agreed to tag along but Lily declined, deciding it would be best for her to stay with the main crew in case her skills in communication were truly needed.

Lily watched them till they disappeared around the corner of the building across from her. She glanced around to take in the state of the whaling station. Something didn't feel right to her but she chalked it up to the darkness of the night and the limited visibility, due to all the kicked up snow from everyone's movements.

Lily pulled her gaiter down and let out a slow deep breath, grinning to herself when a thick white cloud escaped her mouth.

“Hey Crayola you should stay in the snowcat where it's warm,” Stafford suggested as he came up to stand next to Lily.

“Crayola?”

“Yes. Crayola because i’m pretty sure you’re wearing every color they’ve ever made”

“Is - Is that a joke Mr. Tough guy?” Lily laughed

“What if it is?”

Lily stared at Stafford, a smirk evident on his face. She let out a laugh when he lifted an eyebrow. “Aww so there is a nice guy under all that machismo”

“You’re a child. I’m not going to let a child get hurt on this adventure” He stated, turning serious. 

“I’m not a child, I’m 28 years old!” Lily argued

“Exactly - a child. Everyone here is your elder by ten years or more. Now get back in the snowcat or i’ll throw you in it”

Lily stared at him in shock but it quickly turned to anger as she realized that his face showed nothing but honesty. Part of her, a big part, wanted to comply without issue and climb back into the toasty snowcat. But she knew she couldn’’t let herself appear weak. Not out here. Not around all these men. As much as she wished to believe they were all upstanding citizens she knew it was best not to put her guard down. “Mr. Weyland wanted a language expert and you Mr. Stafford were the one to concede to it being me. Now as much as the warmth of the snowcat would be preferable to this nasty weather I was hired to do a job, so a job i shall do. You’re the one in charge so it’ll be your words that I translate the most. Where do we need to go?”

“That’s the thing Ms. Andreu. Everyone of importance can speak english just fine. So your skills are not necessary. I, in fact, wanted to leave you on the ship. It was Mr Weyland that wanted you to come with us.”

Alarm bells began going off in Lily’s head at that. She wasn’t here to translate at all? Then what for? It’s possible that they wanted her expertise on whatever people had been inhabiting this pyramid, but any studying she could do in those regards would have to be done on the ship. None of the buildings here would have enough protection for her to work in without damage being sustained to anything they brought back up. Plus Lily didn’t see herself being more help than Sebastian. Lily pulled up all the emotional training she had gained from her upbringing. Showing no indication one way or the other of what she was thinking she spoke, “Then let us go ask Mr. Weyland what he wants me to do.”

Mr Stafford began to answer “I already did. But he said -” only to be cut off by the calls of Sebastian in the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lily stood around with everyone else peering down into the giant hole in front of them. What looked to be some sort of tunnel that went on forever was dug into the ground. Lily watched as Mr. Quinn set up an orange tripod and recognized it as the same type of tripod she would see city workers use along the roads.

Lex stood at the edge of the tunnel with a flare in hand. At Mr. Quinn’s go ahead, she tore off the cap and threw it down the tunnel. Everyone watched it light up the tunnels ringed walls as it fell.

“Its carved at a perfect 30 degree angle,” Mr. Quinn said.

“How far down does it go?” Weyland asked.

“All the way to the pyramid” Quinn explained and with a few flurries of his hand across his own tablet the updated images showed up on everyone else's tablets too. Lily stared down in confusion with everyone else. One minute no lines show on the picture the next minute there is a tunnel from their current location straight to the pyramid.

“How was it dug?” Miller asked.

“With some type of thermal equipment of some sort” Quinn guessed

“Like yours?” Weyland questioned.

“More advanced” Quinn answered with confusion in his voice before using the flashlight in his hand to follow the angle of the tunnel behind them “Incredibly powerful”

More like out of this world Lily thought as she took in the gaping hole carved out of the roof of the building behind them. It looked like some type of Star Wars battle happened and someone sliced a huge arch out of the roof with their lightsaber. The cut was too perfect. Lily looked beyond the building and at the night sky. Lily never truly believed in extraterrestrials but she never completely ruled out the possibility either. It was always just a whatever subject to her. She wasn't going to go all conspiracy theory crazy over it but she would be lying if she said she didn't think it’d be really cool for there to be other life out there...as long as the reality of it wouldn't create some independence day movie remake...

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Mr. Quinn stated but the look on Weyland's face had him scrambling to explain himself “I’m telling you! There’s no team and no machine in the world that can dig to that depth in 24 hours.”

“Well the only one way to know for sure, is to get down there and find out” Mr. Weyland grumbled.

And that statement did not bode well for Lex or Lily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Up in Space

The three male yautja from the healing pods made their way down a long curved hallway. The walls were a sleek metal with an indented door every couple hundred feet. The largest of the three males let out a grumble as they walked.

“I swear that A’ni-de ran more tests on us than necessary. We are not weak pups! Our bodies are strong and this hunt will be easy. The old man just wishes to take pleasure in our pain”

“Pain? The check up hurt you Thar’nracha?” The second biggest asked, and there was a humorous tone to his words.

Thar’nracha bristled at the comment. His long dreadlock looking hairs whipped around with the force of his turn. He was in the other males space in seconds, muscles flexing. “You dare to call me weak Setg’krath!?” he growled

Setg’krath was unfazed by the anger that rolled off of his older brother. Thar’nracha was always so easy to rile up that Setg’krath couldn’t help himself sometimes. He knew his brother was capable of dealing serious damage to those who pissed him off, but he also knew that no such damage would befall him. His brother was ferocious but his older brother nonetheless.

A punch to both males' shoulders had them glancing over at their other brother Tarei’gahn. “If you two dont quit bickering like a bunch hulij-bpe lou-dte kale I will easily kill more zabin then you two, dear brothers of mine” Tarei’gahn laughed before continuing on down the hall to the armory.

Thar’nracha scuffed as he watched his brother walk away. He couldn’t help but shake his head. Out of all the brothers he could have been related to, he got these two vahuy’ta syra’yte.

A firm hand on his shoulder had him glancing back at his youngest brother.

“Come mei-hswei let us ready ourselves for the hunt. I look forward to wiping the smug look off Tarei’gahn's face when I make a kill before either of you" and with that Setg’krath followed after his other brother.

Thar’nracha sighed, rolling his eyes in annoyance, as he watched Setg’krath disappear down the hall as well. “Wait,” he paused for a moment as his mind caught up with what he heard. “What makes you think you will make a kill before me!?” He bellowed, and the sounds of laughter floating down the hall had him stomping toward the armory.

As the three brothers entered the armory they were greeted by three more yautja. One of whom was the Clan Leader, shocking the three younger males to quickly kneel in respect.

“Rise.” The Clan Leader ordered . “Today you take your chiva. Today you will be recognized as full members of this clan, as Blooded...should you come back alive.”

“We will" Tarei’gahn replied cockily, but quickly bowed his head at the glare he received. “Forgive me, Bet-Karh”

“Learn to watch your tongue in the presence of your clan leader Tarei’gahn, as well as others of higher rank than you, you will no longer be given any leeway for such matters once you are a full member of this clan.” Bet-Karh snarled “As part of the chiva you will receive the armor you requested for this hunt. Upon success this armor will then be traded out for the specially crafted armor all Yautja are given after their Blooding. The location you choose for your chiva has not been used in many centuries. Many rumors have already begun to spread that this hunt is suicide. Be sure to prove them wrong.” Bet-Karh pointed to the yautja on his left “Borg will assist you with your armor and from there you will head to the launch bays. Remember no fear, no mercy.”

“No fear, No mercy” The three repeated

Bet-Karh stopped in the doorway on his way out of the room, “Thar’nracha come” he order and then walked out with other unknown yautja.

Thar’nracha saw the look of concern pass through his other two younger brothers as they gauged his reaction. He gave the slightest shake of his head to ease their thoughts before turning to follow the Clan Leader out the door.

Outside the armory only Bet-Karh stood waiting. Thar’nracha stopped just outside of arm's length in front of him, before him waiting patiently for the Elder to speak.

“Your mother was the fiercest female I had seen in battle and it was for that reason that I wanted to mate with her. I believed with both our genetics combined I would have a worthy offspring on my hand. But I should have learned more about her. I did not approve of the way she raised you. She coddled you - all of her offspring - too much. Taught you to care for each other. And of course it shows.” Bet-Karh snarled.

Thar’nracha drew upon all his willpower not to attack his sire. Thar’nracha was already aware of what others thought about his mother. That the way she raised her offspring was the reason for their low survival rate during Chivas. And now others were trying to defile her name, now that she has passed. But Thar’nracha and his brothers would not allow it. They were the last of her pups and they would bring honor to their mother with victory in this chiva.

“You three pathetically show remorse for her - attempt to honor her with stupidity” Bet-Karh continued “I know why you chose this location. Because it is where your brother Wolf, the first of your mothers pups, finished his chiva. A location no one has managed to survive since. Like i said, stupidity” Bet-Karh paused to study Thar’nracha in before finishing “But also much bravery. You will win this chiva and then your training to take my place will begin.”

“May I speak freely, Elder” Thar’nracha asked.

“Go ahead”

“We did choose this location to honor our mother but it was not done in stupidity and we will prove that. We are the fiercest hunters you will ever have because we come from her. Besides she may have raised me to be closer to my siblings than you would have liked but I will prove to you that it has not hindered me, as a Yautja, in any way. I will come back blooded with little concern to whether my brothers do or do not follow”

“Good” Bet-Karh rumbled in pleasure “The success of this Chiva will look good on you. Now go get ready” with that said Bet-Karh turned to leave with a flourish of his red cape.

Thar’nracha held back the growl he felt rising in his chest as he glared holes into the back of his sire. I’ll show you what I am capable of, Sire. I will survive this Chiva. I will be Blooded and I will become a greater clan leader than you ever were.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Whaling Station

With preparations for the descent down the tunnel almost complete, Lex headed to the snowcat to grab her personal supplies. She was going to be at the front of the line checking the ice as they went so she wanted to have her trusted equipment on her. When she opened the driver door of the vehicle she was startled to find Mr. Weyland breathing through an inhaler. Mr Weyland tried to quickly hide it but Lex saw the style of it. She knew that inhaler was for those with serious lung problems. It had been one of the items photographed in the science magazine she had read about on the helicopter.

“There’s no room for sick men on this expedition” She told him and she hated the hint of sympathy in her voice.

“My doctors tell me the worst is behind me,” Mr Weyland rasped.

“You're not a very good liar Mr. Weyalnd,” Lex smiled sadly and attempted to compromise with him, “Stay on the ship. We’ll update you at the top of every hour”

Mr Weyland looked at her thoughtfully before glancing down at the inhaler in his hands. "You know when you get sick you think about life and how you're going to be remembered." He started "You know what I realized will happen when i go...10% drop in share prices, maybe 12. That is it”

“I've heard this speech before. My dad broke his leg 700 feet from the summit of Mt Rainier. He was like you. He wouldn't let us go back or stop. We reached the top and he opened a bottle of champagne” Lex had to stop for a moment, swallowing thickly, a small chuckle escaped her lips “I had my first drink with my dad at 14,400 feet. On the way down, he developed a blood clot that traveled from his leg to his lung. He suffered for four hours before finally dying. Twenty minutes from the base”

Behind the pity and understanding in Mr Weyland’s features, Lex could also see an ironclad determination.

"You think that's what your father remembers?" He asked "The pain? Or drinking champagne with his daughter 14000 ft in the air."

Lex couldn’t answer that.

"I need this" He begged

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I still don't see why we couldn't just slide down" Lily grunted as she took a few more steps, backward, down the tunnel. Her hands readjusted on the cable connected to a belt, around her waist.  
Adele, who was a few feet above Lily, let out a chuckle turning to look at her. "The ride down will be fun but the landing may not be what you want," she grinned.

And Miller who was further down, and to her right spoke up next. "Actually with the angle of the tunnel, the slipperiness of the ice, and taking into account your weight - you'll gain a lot of speed. Definitely enough to crack some bones upon impact with the bottom"

"Is this revenge for what I said on the helicopter? Why are you ruining my ideas of an ultimate slide?" Lily pouted and everyone around her laughed.

But the sound of metal snapping above them had everyone looking up to see Mr Weyland falling on his back. Then to everyone's horror he started to slide. Mr. Stafford, who was closest to him, tried to grab him. But the thickness of Mr. Weylands clothes and the resulting jerk of his body weight trying to follow gravity caused Mr. Stafford to lose him.

One of Stafford's men tried to intercept him but he didn’t have enough traction on the ice and instead was knocked clean off his feet. Mr Weyland spun away from him and toward another of Stafford's men who reached out to grab him this time. But Mr. Weyland was starting to pick up some speed now and the guy couldn't get a good enough grip before Mr Weyland slipped away. He continued to slide right past most of the crew before they could even attempt to grab him.

"Somebody grab him!" Adele yelled as Mr. Weyland made a wide arc around her and Lily. So wide that he nearly ended up sliding along the sides of the tunnel in some crazy luge like move. Miller and Sebastian lunged to grab him as he swung back down towards them both. But the length of their cable left them falling short.

Lily saw Lex turn at Adele’s scream, pausing in her descent, a few yards ahead of everyone. Everything felt like it had gone into slow motion at that moment and Lily saw Lex’s face go from confusion to focus. She shifted her legs and pressed her feet firmly into the ice, her whole body deathly still. Like a cat about to pounce Lily thought. 

4 yards

3 yards

2 yards

Lex swung her ice axe in a long fast arc. It stabbed into the ice with such force it caused a tremor up her arm and she felt the twinge of protest in her elbow and shoulder.

Mr. Weyland lay stunned, staring at the ceiling of the tunnel, but not moving. Still alive. Slowly he turned his head upward to see what his coat had snagged on. Only to see the tip of a blade six inches from his head. He followed it up to the handle and up the arm that held it. Alexa Woods was staring down at him with a completely calm face. As if she didn’t just almost smash in his skull...then again he would have been dead if she hadn't caught him.

It took a few minutes before everyone else reached their spot and more minutes after that to figure out a quick fix to Weylands now lack of cable. But eventually they were down and Mr Weyland used this time to get his racing heart under control, because it was not until he got down the tunnel that he felt like he could safely breath.

The crew quickly fanned out under Staffords instructions and began setting up. Lex continued forward observing the ground and walls. She lit a flare to better look at the shaping of the ice. The way it had shifted and froze again was unnatural. There shouldn’t have been this much space down here. At least not this close to the hole. It should have only started to pan out, closer to the pyramid, where the supposed heat bloom was. Lex stopped at the edge of a small drop off. In the distance she could see a large dark mass, its outline only a little discernible. The pyramid. Her flare went out and she stuck her hand in her pocket to grab another one but was startled by the hiss of a flare right next to her face. Mr. Weyland stood there with a new flare in hand, a look of confusion on his face.

“I don't understand it. There is no other equipment, no sign of another team” He said.

“Well that tunnel didn’t dig itself” Lex answered

“We have power” someone shouted and bright lights flooded the area.

They could clearly see the outline of the pyramid now. Lex reached into her pocket for her flare gun. Slipping another flare into the barrel she shot it off toward the pyramid.

“Congratulations Mr. Weyland. Looks like you’ll be leaving your mark after all”

“Thank you, thank you all for this” Mr. Weyland said, clasping a hand to Lex’s shoulder “Let's make history”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Up in Space

The three brothers stood around a hologram being displayed. They watched the heat signature of the humans move around, organizing themselves, before heading toward the pyramid. The unknown yautja from the armory stood by them. His hand typing away into his wrist com. “The humans have made quick work of getting to the area. You must be quick about cutting them off before they reach the weapons room. They need to be in the sacrificial chamber when you take the sivk'va-tai or there will be nothing for the kiade amedha to grow in.” He instructed and he made a few final taps on the computer before pointing toward the launch bay. “We are starting to make our drop toward earth. Quickly, get in your drop pods.

The three brothers jogged to their drop pods and climbed in. The doors slid close around them, sealing shut. Thar’nracha growled in annoyance. These stupid pods were not made for a warrior of his size. He could feel his arms pinned hard to his sides. His neck was awkwardly bent forward in order to prevent the top of his mask from scraping the ceiling.

He felt the pod start to lay back and turn. The hanger doors cranked loudly as they moved away.

“Once you are launched you will have until the following night on this planet to vanquish the kiade amedha and exit the pyramid with the mark of a blooded. Go make history.” the yautja yelled over the movements of the machinery.

An alarm went off and then the three brothers were slammed back against their pods. The drop was fast, a lot faster than Setg’krath had expected and his skull throbbed in protest to the abuse. He wondered briefly how his brothers were fairing but the pod began to rattle and he felt himself pushed harder back into the pod. His chest felt like it was going to crack and his stomach churned painfully. He didn’t have any more thoughts past that before he was suddenly crashing into the terrain of the planet. He didn’t have the chance to control his body movements before impact and his head flung forward so quickly that even with the protection of his mask he was seeing spots.

Whoever made these pods was going to be impaled when he got back from this hunt Setg’krath thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the names i used for the Yautja were names that i took from a list of known Yautja from the comic books.  
The three brothers names I created by combining two different yautja words. I wanted their names to have specific meaning to fit with their character traits.
> 
> Thar'nracha is a combination of the words Nracha-dte (relentless) and Thar'n-dha (strength)
> 
> Setg'krath is a combination of the words Setg'in (deadly) and halkrath (shadow)
> 
> Tarei'gahn is a combination of the words Gahn'tha-cte (ruthless) and Tarei'hsan (scorpion)
> 
> The other yautja are:  
A'ni-de - is the ship doctor  
Bet-Karh - is the Clan Leader and Thar'nracha father.  
Borg - is the ships armourer
> 
> Yautja Words
> 
> hulij-bpe - crazy
> 
> lou-dte kale - child bearer
> 
> zabin - insect
> 
> vahuy'ta - air
> 
> syra-yte - head
> 
> mei-hswei - brother
> 
> sivk'vas-tai - plasmacasters/shoulder cannons
> 
> kiade amedha - hard meat/xenomorphs/aliens


	4. A Hunting We Will Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!!!!
> 
> First in the words of our beloved Disney dragon Mushu “I LIVE!!!!!”
> 
> I know shocker LOL
> 
> I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during these crazy times. 
> 
> I want to apologize for being gone so long. Some serious things happened back in August and my mental state just took a nosedive from it. I finally felt mostly like me again back in December but i wasn't in the mood to be writing yet.
> 
> I also want to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone on here. Reading has always been able to make me feel better. So just reading on here, or whatever books I had downloaded on my kindle, washed away a lot of my stresses.
> 
> In January i finally felt the creative juices start flowing. However I'm sorry to say it wasn't toward this story. I joined most of the world in their love for Jaskier x Geralt after watching The Witcher series with my husband on Netflix. 
> 
> A month later, in February, I approached this story after so long away and ugh did i feel lost in what i wanted to do originally. It took me a long while to get my thoughts sorted and rework things a little. 
> 
> …and then the world erupted in chaos and heartache, and though it doesn't amount to much, my heart goes out to everyone. 
> 
> So again. I’m still alive and I am back at this story. I cant promise when or how often i’ll be able to update but i'm working on it - I PROMISE!
> 
> Lastly I want to again say that I hope and wish for everyone's safety and health during these crazy times.
> 
> Love you all!!!!!

Lily watched the four members of the drilling team, who came down to help secure the equipment, make their way back up the tunnel. Part of her wanted to return with them. The pyramid gave her a serious case of the heebie-jeebies but it was also something she didn’t want to look back on and say 'oh that amazing pyramid in Antarctica? Yeah I was there. Nope, never saw the thing.' So of course here she was with fifteen other people, each with a backpack full of emergency supplies, in case, according to Lex, they got separated.

Because apparently that was a real possibility.

Lily glanced up at the pyramid as the group made their way up the stairs. She wasn't expecting it to be so large. The entrance alone, about fifteen feet if she had to guess, looked like it was made for giants. She stopped to look at one of the giant statues lining the sides of the landings between each set of steps. It looked to be some kind of samurai warrior. Though she knew that wasn't correct, the strange mask reminded her of a samurai’s helmet. However something was off about the statue that Lily couldn’t put her finger on. Something just didn't seem right about it.

She brushed it off though and joined back up with the group. She caught the tail end of something Sebastian was saying as she approached Adele, “...the second symbol is Aztec, pre-conquest era, and the third is Cambodian.”

“Then you were right” Mr. Weyland piped up. “The pyramid contains all three cultures.” 

“That is what it looks like,” Sebastian replied

“You may choose to enter”, Thomas mumbled under his breath. “Those who choose may enter”, He stated again, this time with more clarity.

“Who taught you to translate” Sebastian quipped.

“Well he kind of looked like you” Thomas shot back with the smallest of smirks across his face.

“Well it’s not choose, it's chosen.” Sebastian corrected and Lily noticed the change in his demeanor. “Only the chosen ones may enter” Sebastian finished. An unspoken warning hanging off his words.

“Lovely” Adele whispered to Lily sarcastically.

“I swear we better not have to traverse this pyramid like we’re trying out for a spot in Indian Jones or something” Lily grumbled back while waving her hands at Adele and Verheiden “You two may be able to leap over gaping holes in the ground but my little 5 foot 4 ass is gonna plummet to her death”

They both laughed at that idea.

“Don’t worry, pipsqueak. I’ll throw you over” Verheiden promised with a strong pat to the back. Lily stuck her tongue out at him in mock annoyance. Not caring if it made her look even more childish.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### 100 yards from whaling station

Setg’krath's pod immediately opened and for a brief moment he believed he had died and entered The Long Sleep. Nothing but empty darkness and bone chilling cold surrounded him. The readings from his mask and the warmth quickly surrounding him from his thermal netting was the only thing that told him otherwise.

Setg’krath stepped out of his pod and was quickly reminded of the fact that the thermal netting ended at his ankle, doing nothing to protect the soles of his feet from the cold wasteland. He let out a low rumble from his chest in annoyance. He knew that this Chiva location was in an area of extreme cold but it was one thing to be knowledgeable of a situation and entirely different to experience it first hand.

His mask pinged a warning to him when it spotted Tarei’gahn approaching from the right. But he swiped the warning away with his tusk. His brother was not a threat.

“Where is Thar’nracha?” Tarei’gahn questioned.

“His pod is over there” Setg’krath answered, pointing at the pod a few meters in front of him. But before either of them could start making their way over a vicious roar came from Thar’nracha pod. The sound of crunching metal followed before the pod door went flying off to the left. The force of which caused the door to be planted firmly upright in the snow. Thar’nracha appeared from around the pod, his head still looking at the pod door as he made his way over to his younger brothers. 

“Ridiculous contraption!” Thar’nracha growled. “When I become clan leader i will have the creator of those things flayed at my feet”

Both Setg’krath and Tarei’gahn each grasp one of Thar’nracha’s shoulders in camaraderie.

“Come now big brother. Let us go take our frustrations out on some lesser creatures” Tarei’gahn thrilled in excitement. Corralling both his brothers toward the whaling station. “Some of the humans should still be on the surface”

Tarei’gahn’s presumptions turned out to be true. In a matter of minutes they had reached the edge of the dilapidated village. Tarei’gahn had quickly decapitated both human guards on the outskirts of the perimeter.

“Lesser creatures indeed” Thar’nracha clicked “You have hunted these things before Tarei’gahn. Tell us, are they all this easy to kill?” Thar’nracha asked as he watched his brother start to make cuts along the edges of the skull.

“Almost all are. Yes. But when you come across the few that can challenge you...there is nothing more thrilling” Tarei’gahn answered “Go ahead and see if there is one among them. I promised Larju i would bring her back a human skull as well as a kiade amedha” Tarei’gahn pulled back the skin of humans skull before holding up the bloody bone to be inspected under the earth's moon.

“Still on this one female brother?” Setg’krath questioned “Once we are blooded the females will flock to us” His chest puffed out in pride at the thought. “I refuse to tie myself down to one female. I will have them all”

As if the thought of females had changed something for Setg’krath, he quickly headed off into the left side of the village. Thar’nracha watched him disappear under his cloaking before turning back to Tarei’gahn. “Be quick. Killing these things is not even a warm up. We head for the Chiva grounds soon.” Thar’racha watched his brother clean the skull for another moment before activating his own cloaking and heading for the opposite side of the village.

It didn't take him long to come across a few humans, exiting the tunnel that led to the Chiva grounds. He approached fast, not even bothering to be silent. He impaled the one closest to the tunnel. Watching in amusement as the other three humans stumbled about in fear. He was shocked by what little composure these supposed intelligent creatures had. The middle male out of the three still living unleashed his weapon without thought. Succeeding in killing his comrade in front of him as well as opening more holes into the dead human still hung up on Thar’nracha’s wrist-blades.

He flung the dead body at the idiotic human, knocking him down, and then impaled him with his spear before he could finish pushing the body off of him. Out of the corner of his eyesight he could see the last remaining human crouched behind what looked to be shelving. He slowly walked around him. The male of course wasn’t even aware he had moved, still looking at his dead brothers before him. 

No challenge at all, Thar’nracha thought before quickly severing the males head from his body with a quick flick of his wrist blades. He could hear more screams and explosive bangs from the humans primitive weapons. No doubt Setg’krath had found the other humans. As soon as Thar’nracha had finished stringing up the bodies he made his way over to a tall tower, and climbed it, hoping to get a better vantage point for spotting where his brothers were at.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Inside Pyramid

Everyone passed by Lex as she checked her altimeter, this allowed her to secretly make sure everyone was still with her without anyone becoming insulted by her belief that they couldn’t even get this far without trouble. She followed a few passes back at first but then started making her way to the front of the group when everyone seemed to be holding in the room ahead.

“What is all this?” Lex heard Weyland ask.

“This is the sacrificial chamber” Sebastian answered.

Thomas jumped into the conversation with further explanation, “Just like the Aztecs and the Egyptians...whoever built this pyramid believed in ritualistic sacrifice. This is where the chosen ones were offered to the gods”

“Those that were chosen would lie here. They weren’t bound or tied in any way. They went to die willingly. Men and women. It was considered an honor” Sebastian finished off

“Lucky them,” Lex replied before hearing Graeme making excited noise about something. 

She headed over where Graeme revealed a skull with half its spine “It’s incredible.” He began “The entire skull and spinal column was removed in one piece. Look at this, look at them. The cleanness of the cut, straight through the bone. No abrasions.”

A low sounding hiss rang out from farther in the tunnel. Sebastian quickly moved over to Lex and Graeme to peer into the darkened archway next to them.

“It's probably just the air...moving through the tunnels?” Graeme explained with uncertainty.

“Maybe” Sebastian responded before continuing into a short hallway that led to an antechamber. 

Lex followed him, with Graeme close behind. The room was covered in bones. Skulls with severed spines like Graeme had been holding earlier lined the walls from floor to ceiling. On the ground, pushed up along the walls in careless piles, were the broken parts of full skeletons. Lex turned toward Sebastian to ask him if it was normal for this many bones to fill a pyramid but something fell from the ceiling hitting his shoulder on the way down.

Sebastian whirled away with a shout but when nothing else happened all three of them stooped down to inspect it.

“Whatever this is, it's been dead awhile.” Graeme said as moved it slightly with his flashlight, “Its bones are complete calcified”

“No idea how long its been here but the temperature has kept it perfectly preserved” Sebastian added “Looks like some kind of scorpion”

“No, climates too hostile for a scorpion” Lex amended.

“Ever seen anything like it?” Sebastian asked

Lex shook her head slightly before standing “Let’s get back to the others and make sure they’re okay”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“They gave their lives...so the hunt could begin” Thomas translated the glyphs off the slab the bodies were laid out on.

“What happened here?” Adele asked as she and Lily approached.

“Its common in ritual sacrifice to take the heart of the victim” Thomas explained.

“That’s nice” Adele acknowledged, “but that’s not where your heart is, besides, it looks like the bones were bent straight out. Something broke out of this body”

“And i’m out. I'm gonna go talk to someone else. Hopefully someone who won't leave me with unending nightmares” Lily announced and walked around Adele to go see what Stafford was up to.

Stafford snapped a glow stick and dropped it down a hole in the middle of the room.

“Well you’re never getting that back” Lily snickered

Maxwell rolled his eyes. “Har-har Ms. Andreu.”

“What have you found Max?” Weyland’s voice called out from across the room.

“It's a shaft to another level, looks like there's another room down there” Stafford responded

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Whaling Station

Thar’nracha watched the heat blob of a human, down below, sporadically running his way. He had obviously escaped one of his brothers. Whoever he got away from would show up soon enough. It was time to get going now. He watched the human stumble over a raised walkway before running up to the platform Thar’nracha had slaughtered and hung the other humans at earlier.

The human twirled around in confusion and fright, swinging his weapon left and right. But then his sight settled on Thar’nracha and he began shooting. Thar’nracha wasn’t expecting him to be a good enough marksman to hit him from so far but then one of the projectiles clipped the armor on his shoulder.

How dare this zabin think he was a match for him. Thar’nracha let his cloaking fall away, a roar of anger echoed into the night before he dropped down into the snow below. A few strides and he was on the human who continued to eject his weapon at him. Though all it did was create light sparks as the projectiles bounced off Thar’nracha’s armor plated chest. The human tripped over some wood. Quickly grabbing a piece and smashing it against Thar’nracha’s. Thar’nracha barely felt it but he backhanded the human anyway. He hadn’t realized how close they had come to the tunnel until the human went tumbling down it.

“Really brother?” Tarei’gahn bemused from behind him, uncloaking.

“There is no challenge whatsoever!” Thar’nracha growled pulling a map of the pyramid.

“Then perhaps leave my kills be” Setg’krath bristled.

Thar’nracha ignored him and proceeded down the tunnel. At the bottom he spotted the human, badly injured from the fall. “There’s your precious kill” He growled at Setg’krath, not even casting the human another look as he continued on with Tarei’gahn. He heard Setg’krath’s wrist-blades release and cut through the air. The human had been taken care of, now onto more important matters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yautja Words/Names
> 
> Thar'nracha = Celtic  
Setg'krath = Scar  
Tarei'gahn = Chopper
> 
> Larju - a female Yautja Tarei'gahn is courting.
> 
> zabin = insect


	5. Rising Panic

Weyland approached Max and Lily, “Lets go check out that room, Max”

“We’re moving on everyone,” Stafford ordered and everyone started to slowly file out of the room.

Lily stopped when Stafford, whom she had been following turned around and watched everyone that went by “You.” He called out, and Lily looked to see Thomas standing behind her. “Stay here, catalog everything. Rousseau, you stay here with him. Lets go Ms. Andreu”

“What? You can't make Adele stay.” Lily whined but a smirk forming on her face said she wasn’t truly upset, “How am i going to insult you in french if i have no one to speak french with?”

“Allons-y plouc” Stafford commanded, turning sharply to follow after the others.

“Wait! You speak french?" Lily looked at Adele in shock "He speaks french?"

“Oui” Adele laughed

“Hey” Lily yelled while jogging after Stafford “You just called me a redneck!”

“Tu es ennuyeux aussi” **(You’re annoying too)**

“Si grossier avec moi” Lily grumbled **(So rude to me)**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lex checked her watch. She wanted to make sure the readings would match up with what she expected. The more they explored the more vital it would be to keep their bearing. “This should be directly below the sacrificial chamber”

“It's a sarcophagus!” Sebastian exclaimed, passing by Lex to look at a giant box in the middle of the room. Everyone formed a semicircle behind him as he examined the sarcophagus “this is the long count, this is the Aztec calendar” he ran his fingers along the grooves “its some type of combination lock...days - months - years.” He leaned in close, “The dials are set for 1904”

“Someone opened this 100 years ago?” Lex asked in disbelief staring at the dials on the box.

Sebastian seemed to contemplate something for a moment, “What’s today’s date?”

“October 10th” Lex answered

“10 -10 - 2004” Sebastian looked at the dials before reaching out to turn them.

“Are you sure this is going to work” Weyland questioned

“I don't know” Sebastian mumbled

Lex watched Sebastian crank the stone dials in uncertainty. _1904 was when the inhabitants of the whaling station had disappeared Lex thought. Maybe they had discovered this pyramid and messed with something they shouldn’t have._ But it was too late for Lex to voice her musings, Sebastian had activated the sarcophagus into opening up toward them “Back up!”

They all stood and watched a thick grayish mist ooze out over the edges. Sebastian took slow steps forward when the mist started to dissipate. He peered inside, “Oh my god. Take a look at this”

Everyone quickly crowded around, leaning in to see what was so spectacular. But inside were just three oddly shaped objects held off the bottom of the sarcophagus by weird looking clamps.

“Any idea what these are?” Graeme asked, putting his face within inches of one of them.

“No, you?” Sebastian replied

“No”

“They look like ancient hairdryers,” Lily spoke up and Lex glanced over at her, locking eyes before they both chuckled.

“Well it's a good thing we brought the experts” Stafford remarked with a snide

“Well yeah, it is. Because this is like discovering Moses DVD collection” Graeme replied, not catching on to the emphasis behind Stafford's words.

Before anyone could say anything else. Mr. Weyland began coughing loudly. He staggered off a few ways and put his hand against a wall to steady himself.

“Weyland?” Lex asked with worry, quickly walking over to rest a hand on his shoulder.

Mr. Weyland waved her off and offered a half smile “I’m fine. A little too much excitement”

Lex accepted his answer for now but she wasn't going to risk things. “OK, uh, we’ve been out long enough for today. We’re gonna set up base camp tonight at the whaling station and get back at it first thing tomorrow morning”

Lex wasn’t surprised to see that Lily was the only one to move upon her orders. She watched Lily stop next to her, confusion crossing her face when she realized no one else was coming.

“Well you can go back to the base camp Ms. Woods, but we’re staying here” Mr. Stafford informed her.

“No. You wanted to leave without proper prep. We did. You wanted to be the first ones here. We are. You wanted to make this claim. It’s yours. Now we move as a team and we are done for the day” Lex ordered

She stared Max down, he and his men still hadn’t moved. She knew it wasn’t right as the guide but Lex hoped he would give her a reason to really lay into him. He simply stared back though, unbothered, before looking to Mr. Weyland behind her.

“What do you want to do with these, Mr. Weyland” Stafford asked gesturing to the objects.

“Take ‘em. We’ll run further tests above the surface”

“No! NO! Don't touch them” Sebastian cried out.

Sebastian's arms were out in front of him, in an almost pleading manner, as he stared at Stafford who had his hands wrapped around the last object, still in place. But of course Lex wasn’t surprised by the complete disrespect Max showed as he looked Sebastian straight in the eye before plucking it from the box.

Immediately the weird clamps closed up. The sarcophagus began to slide back into its hidden compartment. The sounds of cranking chains and stones sliding against each other started to echo all around them.

“The doors” Sebastian yelled.

Everyone snapped their heads toward the door to see a giant slab coming down. Lex and Sebastian ran for it but it dropped too quickly, sealing everyone inside. A shout from one of Stafford's men had them turning toward him. He was scrambling his way off the stairs that had once led up to the Sarcophagus. The stairs had shifted down revealing a hidden tunnel beneath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Graeme, Sebastian and Verheiden stood at the new entrance, shining their lights as far as it would go in the hopes they would be able to see something of significance.

“Should we try it?” Graeme asked, looking back at both Stafford and Lex.

Stafford began to approach when a gun shot was heard from above, followed quickly by muffled screams of panic. Everyone looked at the shaft above them. Sebastian and Stafford immediately tried to contact Thomas and Rousseau as the sounds slowly died out. Lily felt her heart sink into her stomach. Her mind began to race with all the possibilities. Deadly gas, acid, snakes, scorpions, lava, boulders, zombies, who knew. 

Most importantly, she felt guilt. She could have easily persuaded Stafford to let Adele come but she didn’t, and now, she was in pain, dying or even worse - dead!

The sound of something heavy and metal hitting the ground, close behind Lily, startled her out of her thoughts. Stafford’s suitcase lay at his feet as he prepared a gun in his hand. There was a slight reassuring look in his eyes as he stared at Lily. His men quickly followed his lead by pulling out their own hidden weapons.

“What are you doing?” Lex demanded

“My job, yours is over” Max informed her

“My job is over when I make sure everyone gets out of here safely. And a gun doesn't change that!”

Stafford cocked his gun and lifted an eyebrow, looking just about ready to shoot Lex.

“That’s a Heckler & Koch G36” Lily stated as she approached Stafford.

Lex took this as her cue to walk away and make a game plan.

“Like I said, plouc” Stafford smirked. He unstrapped a smaller gun from his right thigh “Think you can manage?”

Lily took the gun, made sure the safety was on, locked the slide back, and then took out the magazine. “Desert Eagle, .44 Magnum, big kick” She popped the magazine back in, released the slide, tucked her left hand firmly against the tang of the gun, and checked her sighting. “Yeah, I’ve got it”

“Good.” Strafford replied as he unhooked the gun holster from his leg “Let me hold that and you put this on”

~~~~~~~~~~~

####  Pyramid Entrance

Celtic approached the entrance to the Chiva grounds with his brothers. He could feel the excitement coursing through him. He could even smell the sweet acidic tang of it wafting off his brothers. He pulled the schematics of the pyramid up on his wrist-com. He and his brothers needed to be smart about this if they wanted to survive. Wolf had warned them that this pyramid had more twists and turns than the other Chiva grounds.

“Looks like we have exactly six humans in the sacrificial chamber...perfect, we can each have two” Tarei’gahn purred as he peered down at the map.

“Have two? What makes you think I am so willing to share little brother?” Thar’nracha growled “You forget this is a Chiva. We stick together till we get our sivk’va-tai but after that...you’re on own”

Tarei’gahn let out a hiss in aggravation but before he could say anything the giant stone slab to the entrance had begun to close behind them. “Cjit”

All three peered down at the holographic map to see that the other humans who had traveled down to the armory had actually managed to open the weapons casing.

“Pauk! They started the Chiva!” Thar’nracha roared “Quickly we must retrieve them before the infants hatch” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Armory

“This bearing should lead us back to the entrance and then we’ll regroup back at the whaling station” Lex told everyone from her spot at the bottom of the stairs.

"What about Thomas? Rousseau?” Sebastian complained

“We’ll look for them on the way up” Lex replied

“Max” Weyland called out

“Stone. Behind. Cover our backs.” Stafford ordered before softly tacking on “Lily stay close to Weyland”

With that done, everyone cautiously entered the new tunnel.

“Your heat bloom makes sense now Mr. Weyland” Graeme remarked

“What do you mean?” Weyland asked

“Well, a building of this sophistication would require a major energy source. I think that's what your satellite detected” Graeme explained “A power plant for this pyramid, powering up, preparing”

“Preparing? For what?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

#### Armory 5mins after humans left

All three of them de-cloaked as Thar’nracha stepped forward to shift the dials atop the weapons case. Setg’krath knew what awaited them, it was empty. Thar’nracha let out a vicious growl. Setg’krath agreed with what Thar’nracha was expressing. The Chiva had been started prematurely, they could clearly hear the infants hatching from the chamber above, and now these pauking oomans had taken their most sacred weapons. Thar’nracha snapped his arm out to the left, pointing behind Setg’krath. “You catch up to them. Tarei’gahn and I will loop around to cut off the runners.” 

Tarei’gahn scuffed at Thar’nracha’s word choice. “Runners? You mean all of them.” he replied with disgust.

That was the last thing Setg’krath heard before he was out of hearing range. He picked up his pace, he wanted to kill as many of these zabins as possible before his brothers could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Lily did her best to stay calm as she walked next to Weyland. But her chest felt like it was tightening every time she exhaled and she couldn’t resist brushing her fingers against the gun strapped to her leg, in a slight reassuring manner. Lily had a huge fear of the dark. It wasn’t something you’d expect from someone who came to this expedition in the cold dark terrain, nonetheless underground where there was literally no light. Except Lily was good at keeping herself from spiraling into a panicked tizzy, because she had never been in a situation where she didn’t have access to a light source.

She was always able to keep herself just shy of a panic attack when plunged into darkness because she could pull out her phone or calmly make her way to where she knew a light source in the room was. She had concerns when they first descended the ice tunnel but when she saw how many light sources the crew had with them, she had managed to remain calm. Chatting with Adele had also helped. Now however, they were down to the light of the flashlights everyone carried, and that did little to cut through all the shadows and crevices of the hallway they were in. The creepy Bushido looking statues, lining the upper walls, only helped to intensify her fear. 

“Recognize what's on their shoulders?” Lex said to Sebastian, shining her light up at one of the statues.

“Yeah” He answered as he moved to check out the hieroglyphs on the bottom portion of the walls.

“We worshiped these things?” Stafford asked, baffled.

“According to this, we did. The artifacts you removed from the sarcophagus seem to be their weapons”

“So I guess that rules out hairdryer” Stafford said with a smirk toward Lily, who rolled her eyes. But she secretly appreciated the small attempt to ease the situation.

They attempted to continue forward when a huge clatter from behind had everyone swinging around to see one of the rifles laying on the floor, its owner nowhere in sight.

“Take cover!” Stafford ordered. His soldiers quickly pressed everyone against the side walls. Positioning themselves in front as they continued to call out for Stone, the missing soldier.

Lily was definitely panicking now. She pressed her back hard against the wall, gun out and held low in front of her - last thing she needed to do was shoot one of the soldiers guarding her. She could hear the heavy wheezing of Weyland next to her even over her own quickened breaths. Her eyes tried to catch something in the lights the men were swinging around widely.

Then something up above reflected off one of the lights. She was about to call out, as she swung the gun up to take aim, but Matthews the soldier in front of her must have noticed it too because he was swinging his light back at it. Lily managed to take one shot before Matthews was flying back. Something cold and hard slid past the side of her stomach a second before Matthews slammed into her, knocking her gun out of her hand. 

Lily didn’t waste a minute as she tried to push Matthews off of her, though it felt like he weighed a thousand pounds. All of Stafford's men were viciously unloading into the area that thing had been and Lily could feel tears gathering in her eyes as she grunted with exertion. _Whatever that thing was she wanted the hell away from it._ She tried to wiggle her arms in front of her body so she could get more leverage for a push, but she felt her right elbow knock against something hard and not human-like. She turned her head down to awkwardly glance between her body and Matthews. Only to see that there was a metal rod sticking straight out of Matthews’s body. A body which she now noticed was hanging limply. Peeking over his shoulder she caught sight of a giant metal spear. A spear that had been thrown with such force it had gone through Matthews and embedded into the wall. The only question now, and one Lily truly feared to know, was whether or not shock had kept her from realizing it had gone through her as well. 

She heard what sounded like something ginormous falling on the other side of the wall behind her and then a portion of the wall that her and Matthews were stuck to began to push them forward. Lily screamed for help, pushing her feet against the ground in a useless attempt to stop her movement. Her scream was drowned out by the men firing again as the giant beast leapt the crevasse of the hallway. More and more random pieces of pyramid lifted and dropped and slid and closed. Everyone was screaming and scrambling around trying not to be crushed and to stay together.

“Wait! No!” Lily cried out, continuing to push against Matthews, as tears started to fall at the thought of being left all alone.

Suddenly it felt like time had slowed. She didn't hear or see any of the chaos going on around. Her whole body was frozen, she didn’t even dare breath as she felt a tremor run through the spear. Just over Matthews’s shoulder she could make out from the corner of her eye the blurry outline of a massive translucent hand, gripping the spear. She gasped as the spear was immediately yanked out of the wall, bits of rocked breaking off and hitting her in the back, as it shrunk in size. The speed of the movement was so quick that Lily tumbled to the floor with Matthews body. She snapped her head around to get a better look at the creature, but all she saw was a part of the spear disappearing into the closing ceiling above her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translated words
> 
> Thar'nracha = Celtic  
Setg'krath = Scar  
Tarei'gahn = Chopper
> 
> Sivk'va-tai = plasma cannons  
Cjit = Shit  
Pauk = Fuck  
Oomans = Human  
Zabins = insects
> 
> French Conversation
> 
> Allons-y plouc = Let's go redneck  
Oui = Yes  
Tu es ennuyeux aussi = You are annoying too  
Si grossier avec moi = So rude to me
> 
> (I don't speak french so if anyone reading this does and i messed up this conversation please let me know)


	6. Far from Safe

Lily couldn’t take her eyes off the spot, in the ceiling, the invisible creature had disappeared through. It would take her jumping the entire length of her body just to touch the ceiling. Yet this - thing - that took it’s spear back managed to maneuver around the shifting pyramid with a level of expertise that had Lily’s mouth going dry.

Lily let out an undignified squawk and swung her arm back to take a strike at the firm grip that landed on her shoulder but a hand caught her wrist with ease, holding her in place. She tugged her arm hard to try and get free, panic rising once again.

“Lily!” Stafford barked.

Lily froze at Stafford's voice and it took a few more seconds of just staring at him to register that it was actually him crouched down next to her and not the creature that had retrieved its spear. Lily swallowed thickly, “Stafford?” she rasped.

Stafford let go of her gently. “Are you alright?” He asked as he retrieved a canteen of water from his hip. He held it out to her.

Lily attempted to swallow again as she slowly lifted her hand to take the offered gift. She just continued to stare at him as she slowly sipped the warm water. It had to have been tucked tight to the body to have been warm she thought offhandedly.

“Are you alright?” Stafford repeated stiffly, his brows pinching together in deep worry.

Lily capped the water and handed it back to Stafford, who quickly stored it away, “Yeah” she answered in a whisper.

“Are you sure?” Lex asked, and it was then Lily noticed her, Sebastian and Weyland all standing behind Stafford.

“Yeah” She said more firmly “I-I got…” She glanced down at Matthews body that was still lying face down, to the left of her, close enough that she could feel his clothing brush against hers. The gaping hole through the middle of him had Lily lifting her hand to press against the side of her ribs. The phantom feeling of an object against her side was still strong.

“Are you hurt? I thought you were alright?” Stafford questioned, hands prying Lily’s hand away to inspect the injury. Lex crouched down in front of Lily to shine more light as Stafford checked her. She glanced down to see that Stafford was sticking his fingers into a hole in her clothes. For a brief moment she thought he had stuck his fingers inside her but then she felt the cold exterior of his gloves brush against the side of her skin. He pulled his glove back out to show it was streaked in blood. “You’re bleeding, though it doesn't look to be serious. Nonetheless we should clean it up” He stood and offered a hand to Lily.

She took it and Stafford pulled her to her feet before directing her toward a block sticking out of the ground. Lex came up next to them and set her backpack down on the stone.

“Let me. Girl to girl” She explained.

Stafford stared at Lex and then at Lily before giving a curt nod and heading over to Matthews body.

“Lift your shirt a little please” Lex ordered gently.

Lily did as she was told and was able to finally get a look at the damage. Which, just like Stafford had said, wasn’t as bad as she had thought. A scratch mark only just deep enough to bleed, when she moved, ran down her right side at a slight angle. The wound started at the front of her body, at the middle of her ribs, and continued back to end at her hip. Lily felt relief wash over her. She was going to be alright. But that was quickly clouded in gray when she took in her surroundings while Lex sprayed her with some disinfectant. 

They may still be alive but they were far from safe.

“I'm not going to wrap you up in gauze because we may need it for a more serious injury. The bleeding is already starting to come to a stop. Are you going to be okay with that?” Lex asked as she packed her things away. 

“Yeah. Thanks” Lily replied letting her shirt drop back down as Sebastian approached.

“Your colorful backpack is still alive” Sebastian smiled and Lily let out a chuckle as she slid off the stone slab taking her black backpack back from Sebastian.

“Lily! Where is the color? I expected more from you” Lex questioned in extremely fake shock.

“Har har you two.”

“You’re lying!” Stafford's voice echoed off the walls “All of my men are gone - two that i know of are dead - You aren’t telling us everything. Why did you insist Lily come with us? She’s a linguist. What use is she in this pyramid?”

It felt like Lily’s heart had dropped into her stomach. Her chest ached from the loss and her stomach swirled in discomfort at the invasion. So caught up in the beginning excitement of an unexplored pyramid and the latter chaos that ensued that she had forgotten all about her lack of need to be here. She was afraid to hear Weyland's response.

“Yelling isn’t going to solve anything. We need to save our energy to get out of here” Lex butted in.

Stafford swung around to make what Lily assumed was going to be a nasty retort - or possibly shoot her - when the loud beeping of an alarm went off. 

Everyone turned to Sebastian.

“What's that?” Lily asked.

“Just a theory. The Aztec calendar was metric. Based on multiples of ten.” He started and a loud grinding sound could be heard in the distance “So if my calculations are correct then the pyramid should reconfigure every ten minutes”

Not even a second after he finished one small slab slid out of the way behind him. It revealed a small narrow hallway. Just wide enough for one person and just tall enough that Stafford wouldn’t have to crouch. Lex smiled brightly at Sebastian who returned the gesture with a grin before kissing the bottle cap on his necklace.

“Like rats in a maze.” Max grumbled before taking the lead. “Lets stick together this time” Lily followed close behind, very much in agreement with that statement.

They walked for no more than two or three minutes before the hall started to widen and grow, slowly opening up into another room not unlike the last room they had been in. The only difference with this room was that it had pillars all throughout it, shrouding the room in even more darkness. It gave Lily an uneasy feeling to not be able to see even three feet in front of her and she suspected Stafford felt the same way by how tense his body looked when her flashlight passed over him. Lily wanted to have her weapon drawn just as Stafford did but she had quickly lost that in the shoot out earlier.

There was a loud clatter that had everyone freezing in their spot until they realized it was Weyland. His breathing was coming out in a strained wheezing sort of way rather than the nervous panting of the others.

“Weyland. Are you alright?” Lex asked, approaching to set her hand gently on his shoulder. 

“Yeah I'm fine” he rasped. He bent down slowly to pick up the weird weapon. Leaning heavily on the wall so he didn’t fall over.

“Leave it. It’ll only slow us down” Lex told him.

But Weyland only stared back at her with determined eyes, standing as tall as he could while he gripped the weapon close to his chest. “Too much has already been lost to leave here with nothing” He argued.

Lex let out a sigh of exasperation and turned to offer up her backpack as storage. “Give it to me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


####  Thar'nracha & Tarei'gahn

Tarei’gahn and Thar’nracha walked out into a large chamber of the Chiva. They could hear the heavy breathing of the humans from the main tunnel across the room. The brothers had arrived at the perfect moment. Thar’nracha gestured to his right and Tarei’gahn and him quietly slipped back into the shadows. Hugging the outer walls as they used the large pillars to hide them even more.

Thar’nracha tilted his head in curiosity when he saw only five bodies appear. Tarei’gahn voiced his thoughts before he could.

“Only five? Either they were pathetically separated by the ever changing walls or Setg’krath was angrier than you that they have caused us issue”

“I wish to say Setg’krath, but that would regard these stupid creatures with too much intelligence.” Thar’nracha replied before spotting one of their guns in the eldest humans hands. “They have one of our plasma cannons. Go, cut them off so that they cannot turn around and flee back into the tunnel. I wish for this wretched problem to be over with. They’re abrasive noise is sure to have attracted the growing drones. We have more important matters to attend to and not much time left to achieve it.” 

Tarei’gahn let out a small rumble of agreement before activating his cloaking and marching off.

Thar’nracha studied the humans as he waited for Tarei’gahn to get in position. The largest male, that was closest to him, was the only one that could be considered a threat. He had the only long range weapon. The young female not far from the male could be mistaken for a child at first glance. But a quick sniff of the air told Thar'nracha she was of breeding age. _And i thought they couldn’t get any worse but their females are of such pathetic size. How do they expect their offspring to survive with such a tiny mother to protect them._ The scents in the air also told him that the elder was dying. The last two humans, another female and male, were both virile but effectively weaponless.

As soon as Thar'nracha saw Tarei’gahn’s form flicker at the edge of the tunnel he launched his attack. He didn’t bother to cloak himself but simply stepped out into view of the large male. He was mildly surprised by the swift response the male gave. He managed to launch his attack a second before Thar’nracha shot him with his t’gou u’linja. His effort was wasted though because the small projectile ricocheted off Thar’nracha’s helmet without issue and the human male was quickly ensnared into the ever tightening net.

The other humans let out varying degrees of alarm as they scuttled over to the male to offer assistance. Thar’nracha was amused but not surprised that not a single one of them stood sentient against where his attack had come from. Obviously there was a threat yet they were more concerned with saving the large male. He listened to the grunts and wails they made as they attempted to prevent the net from doing any more harm to the male, before advancing.

The trapped male let out a cry of warning and the others turned around to face him but he did not slow his pace. The taller female pulled a stick out from behind her back and Thar’nracha took note of the serrated curve of a blade at one end. He knocked her back with a hard swing to the chest before she could put any momentum behind her strike. The strange weapon skidded away from the female as she let out pained grunt, tumbling away from him.

Thar’nracha was glad she had attacked. It was against their honor code to kill a female of another species unless the female engaged in battle against them of her own free will first. At which point they were considered an opponent just like their males. Now he would be able to kill her without worry. He shouldered past the sick elder next, who fell to the floor like the weak creature it was. It was also against their code to harm the sick and elderly though if you did kill them your punishment was not as severe as that of doing harm to a female or child. 

Punishment for killing an unarmed, sick or elder of another life form would result in nasty labor intensive grunt work and suspension from hunts for a duration of time. But death to a child, a submissive female, or a female carrying...that was punishment Thar’nracha did not wish to see. Let alone have brought down upon him. Those punishments almost always led to death.

The other male threw a punch to Thar’nracha’s stomach who in return grabbed him by the throat with one hand and lifted him off the ground. Thar’nracha moved the now dangling human to the right so he could get a clear view of the human that continued to struggle under the net. To the left of the net was the tiny human female, back turned in complete disregard to him, as she attempted to break one of the nets anchors out of the rock with fierce kicks to it. 

The dangling human kicked his feet uselessly, a natural instinct to find traction and relieve pressure to its throat, as it gargled some sort of sound. His blunt little nails failed at digging into the skin of Thar’nracha's hand. Thar’nracha pulled his ki’cti-pa out while the larger male still struggled pitifully under the net. It started to shout more warnings in his language, if his tone was anything to go off of, at the female. She barked something back before letting out a small war cry, jumping to bear her entire measly weight down on the anchor.

Thar’nracha extended his ki’cti-pa to its full length intent on driving it through the large human’s chest but the anchor the female had been working on came loose from the rock and she spun quickly to face him, grabbing hold of the end of his weapon that was closer to her with both hands. _Pauk the female wasn’t attacking._ She only stood firmly in defense while the male freed himself of the net. Thar'nracha would have to abandon his weapon in order to do her no harm.

Tarei’gahn himself watched from the sidelines as Thar’nracha dispatched the humans. He wanted one for himself but they had all converged on his brother. He gained an opportunity though when the older female, who engaged in battle, was knocked aside by his brother, her weapon sliding toward him. He watched her not even slow down as she rolled onto her hands and knees. She glanced back at her comrades to see Thar’nracha pulling his ki’cti-pa out from behind his back. The female scrambled over to grab her weapon ready to lend more aid. But Tarei’gahn was on her.

He swung his leg and caught her right across the chest. He felt as well as heard the breath leave the female as her small body bowed from the force and flew through the air, smacking hard into the pillar behind her, before landing back on the ground. Tarei’gahn slowly stalked around her in a semicircle, his larger single bladed wristblade slid out. He wondered briefly if Largu would like the skull of a female warrior more than the two regular males he had already collected.

He watched the female crawl backward until her back hit the pillar from before. Her head jerked from one spot on his body to another, attempting to see with her eyes what her mind knew was there. Then the female’s head snapped toward something over Tarei’gahn’s shoulder, her heartbeat skyrocketing and a high pitched sound of duress left her. Tarei’gahn didn’t even manage to turn around before his right shoulder was being pierced by the deadly sharp tail of a kiande amedha drone. He let a roar of pain that quickly choked off into a hiss when the drone began to lift him off the ground.

He could feel his muscles tearing as they were forced to bear the weight of his body on that injury. He was lifted and turned till he was face to face with the slimy black drone that had hooked him. It rattled out a hiss as its jaw widened to reveal a second set of striking teeth insides its mouth. Tarei'gahn was not going to die before he took one of these disease ridden beasts with him. Tarei’gahn swung his arm, tearing the wound in his shoulder even more, so that his still extended wristblade could drag across the drones neck. Immediately the drone dropped dead tumbling to the ground with Tarei’gahn, who quickly yanked out the tail and rolled away from the ever growing pool of the kiande amedha's acidic blood.

Tarei’gahn slouched up against one of the walls. His chest heaved with every breathe and his entire right arm felt like it was on fire. He vaguely made out the sound of Thar’nracha yelling something, but it was unclear under the cries of the humans and the screech of another drone nearby. The last thing he was able to comprehend before his vision faded to black was the sight of his hurt arm, draped over his chest, grotesquely disfigured and still sizzling from the drones blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Yautja Words
> 
> t'gou u'linja - Netgun  
ki'cti-pa - Combistick  
kiande amedha - hard meat/xenomorph/alien


End file.
